"Catherine Rayner has a marvellous gift for capturing the souls of animals in a few, rich washes of colour." Daily Telegraph
Q&A with Catherine Rayner
What was the inspiration behind writing My Pet Goldfish?
I absolutely love fish, and I've had an aquarium since I was very little. In this story, 'Richard' is named after my real goldfish, and he's full of character. I adore watching all kinds of fish swimming around, and I find it very therapeutic painting them too. I really wanted to create not only a beautiful storybook but also an educational book that could help dispel some of the myths that exist about goldfish and how to look after them. They are not simply a pet to be put in a bowl and forgotten about - they are beautiful animals with totally fascinating characteristics that can live for a very long time.
They are also wonderful, engaging pets, and I felt it was important to help people appreciate just how special they really are. Making this book was an absolute pleasure, from the research all the way through to painting the water endpapers! I've already had a lot of emails from people saying they had no idea how fascinating fish could be!
Can you tell us about your process?
My writing and illustrating process change slightly with every single book that I make. I'm often asked about my method, and I can firmly say that I don't really have one. I quite like this because it makes each book a new adventure with its own timescales and rhythm of work.
With My Pet Goldfish, I wanted to make the book for the reasons above, and also because I love Richard, the fish, and I felt goldfish are often overlooked as simple, easy, sometimes boring pets. I started drawing and painting Richard quite a few years ago, and the more I studied him, the more I noticed his personal quirks and habits. That led me to research goldfish, and I leant so much that I wanted to share!
I had illustrated one non-fiction book with Walker books called Hello, Horse which was written by Viv French - all about my own horse called Shannon. When I was asked if I had any other ideas, I suggested that Richard would very much like his own book and the team at Walker rather liked the idea too!
I showed them the paintings I had already made of him and gave them a loose outline of a story which I then developed alongside lots of fishy facts I'd uncovered during my research. I could only use the 'child-friendly' facts as this is a picture book, but it was great fun deciding which ones to use and what to illustrate.
Once I had
completed the text, I started to make rough layout drawings for
each spread in the book. Once I was happy with the design, I started
painting. Painting fish (I discovered) is just as relaxing as watching them. I
LOVED all the colourful ink bottles hanging around in my studio while I
was working on it. Usually, I use a lot of brown, green and grey and these
vibrant inks was an absolute delight to work with. All of the elements of the
artwork were painted and then scanned into my computer and worked on
further. I visited lots of local ponds, aquariums and specialist fish
centres where I could speak to the staff and find out as much as I could
about them as well as sit and draw them and take pictures. But my visits
were really about absorbing their movement into my mind so I could go home and
make lively looking fish and water paintings.
Do you have a favourite Goldfish fact?
I think it's a fascinating fact that goldfish can see more colours than humans! I try and imagine the wonderful 'extra' colours they can enjoy! However, my favourite fact is that scientists believe fish can remember things for FIVE months! Isn't that incredible as most people believe a goldfish memory only lasts a couple of seconds? I think five months is far longer than I can remember most things!
Can you tell us more about your journey into the world of children's books?
